Orchard Towers
Orchard Towers is located in Singapore
Orchard Towers
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeHigh-rise
ClassificationCommercial, Residential
LocationOrchard Road, Singapore
Address400 Orchard Road, Singapore 238875
CountrySingapore
Coordinates1°18′25″N 103°49′44.5″E / 1.30694°N 103.829028°E / 1.30694; 103.829028
Named forOrchard Road
Opened1975 (1975)
ManagementChesterton International
Height79 m (259 ft)
Technical details
Floor count18

Orchard Towers is an 18-story office building in Singapore located on the corner of Claymore Road and Orchard Road. Construction was completed in 1975. The first five floors are a combination of bars and retail outlets with the remainder leased as offices.[1] During the day the building functions as a retail and office style building, but the building is best known as a landmark[2] entertainment complex famously described as the "Four Floors of Whores" or simply the "Four Floors".[3][4][5] In addition, one of the towers houses 58 freehold condominium residential units.[1]

Orchard Tower houses the Embassy of Romania on the 8th floor,[6] Honorary Consulate of Mauritius on the 9th floor[7] and the Embassy of Cambodia on the 10th floor.[8]

Overview

Located at the junction of Orchard and Claymore Roads, and occupying two freehold plots with a total area of 66,000 square feet (6,100 m2), Orchard Towers comprises two separate buildings straddling Claymore Drive. Linked together by an overhead walkway, each building consists of a tower block and a podium.[9] The building facing Orchard Road comprises a 18-storey office tower and a six-storey podium,[10] while the other building comprises a 17-storey residential tower block and a seven-storey podium. The lower floors of both podiums, and the basement, are set aside for commercial use, while the upper floors of the seven-storey podium houses the development's carpark.[9]

Orchard Towers differs from conventional Singapore red light districts such as that in Geylang. Instead of providing brothels, Orchard Towers serves as an establishment where clients are able to meet and pick up prostitutes whom they take to nearby hotels. These prostitutes are mostly freelancers who are in Singapore on tourist visas and thus working illegally, and the complex is thus regularly raided by police. The prostitutes are primarily from Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia with a few from Vietnam and Eastern Europe. In the early 2010s well-known bars in the shopping mall included Ipanema, Top 5 (formerly known as Top Ten), Harry's Bar and Naughty Girl.[11][12]

The mall includes basic amenities such as ATMs, as well as a supermarket and a convenience store.[1]

History

Plans for the development of Orchard Towers were first drawn up by Golden Bay Realty in the early 1970s. Conceived as a "multi-purpose development", the development included offices, retail space, and residential units, and was expected to cost S$35 million.[9] Sime Darby acquired the development in May 1973, as part of their takeover of Golden Bay Realty,[13] and the building was completed by 1975.[10]

Upon completion, Orchard Towers contained a roof garden, a 450-seat theater, and 150 retail units in the building along Orchard Road, as well as 58 residential units and a two-floor supermarket in the other building.[10]

A cinema was located on level 4 in the early 1980s. It was subsequently converted into a nightclub and performance space called Top Ten, later renamed Top 5.[14] By the mid-2000s the building's nighttime prostitution had come to dominate its daytime retailing of electronic goods and jewellery. The sex workers and their clients were mostly foreign.[15] By the mid-2010s the building was ageing and run-down in comparison to the majority of up-market shopping malls on Orchard Road, with its retail units tenanted by sex shops, beauty parlours and girlie bars.[16]

In July 2022, nightlife operators at Orchard Towers were notified that their licenses were not being renewed, which the Singapore Police Force attributed to continued issues regarding public safety and vice activities at the development.[17] In an attempt to get the police to reconsider, the nightlife operators shortened their operating hours, and the mall's business association hired additional security guards, but as of January 2023, the police remained firm on their decision not to renew the licenses.[18] Nevertheless, in April 2023, the police subsequently extended the nightspots' licenses by two months, which was to allow for the nightspots to move out more smoothly.[19] By October 2023, all the nightspots in Orchard Towers had moved out or closed down.[20]

In December 2023, the mall's operator announced plans to refresh Orchard Towers. These plans included the replacement of the mall's facade, and bringing in more "family-friendly" tenants such as tuition centres and food and beverage outlets in place of the massage parlours and nightspots that had moved out. Nevertheless, CNA reported that there still were vice activities at the mall.[21]

Orchard Towers double murders (2002)

On 2 January 2002, Michael McCrea (also known as Mike Townsend), a British expatriate in his 40s, murdered his driver friend Kho Nai Guan (46) and Kho's fiancée Lan Ya Ming (30) in his apartment in Pinewood Garden. Audrey Ong helped McCrea in the murder. After the murders, the bodies of the two deceased were left inside a silver Daewoo Chairman 400 which was abandoned on the 6th storey of the Orchard Towers car park. Peter Chong discovered the car on 7 January 2002 and informed the car park's security guards, who informed the Singapore police. The case is known as the Orchard Towers double murders.[22]

Both fled to Australia. Ong was extradited back to Singapore in 2002, and sentenced on 7 February 2003 to 12 years in jail for helping McCrea to dispose the bodies. McCrea was extradited on 27 September 2005, and sentenced on 29 June 2006 to a total of 24 years in jail for two amended charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (10 years for each amended charge) and one charge of causing evidence to disappear (4 years for the third charge). McCrea's appeal for a lighter jail term was thrown out by the Court of Appeal of Singapore.[22]

Orchard Towers murder (2019)

On 2 July 2019, a group of seven people took part in the murder of Satheesh Noel Gobidass. The assailants were Tan Sen Yang, 27, Ang Da Yuan, 26, Joel Tan Yun Sheng, 26, Natalie Siow Yu Zhen, 22, Loo Boon Chong, 25, Tan Hong Sheng, 22, and Chan Jia Xing, 26.

The police received a call for assistance at Orchard Towers at 6.25am on the day of the incident. The victim was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7.25am.

Shopkeepers at Orchard Towers said they heard a group of people shouting and fighting in the early morning. The fight allegedly originated in the Naughty Girl Club, which led the group to commit the murder.

As of 2019, only Tan Sen Yang was charged with murder and may face the death penalty.[23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Orchard Towers Singapore | 400 Orchard Road". Orchard Towers. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  2. ↑ Goh, Robbie B. H (2005). Contours of Culture: Space and Social Difference in Singapore. ISBN 9789622097315.
  3. ↑ "Singapore: Entertainment – Sleazy Singapore" (PDF). Lonely Planet Publications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011.
  4. ↑ Loh Chee Kong (15 May 2007). "Orchard Towers in the crosshairs". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007.
  5. ↑ "Orchard Towers". Time Out Singapore. Archived from the original on 21 December 2008.
  6. ↑ "Contact information and map". Embassy of Romania in the Republic of Singapore. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "Consulate of the Republic of Mauritius - Singapore". www1.govmu.org. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Embassy of Cambodia in Singapore". www.embassypages.com. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 Mok, Sin Pin (5 July 1971). "Property". The Straits Times. Singapore. p. 14. Retrieved 5 March 2023 – via NewspaperSG.
  10. 1 2 3 "Orchard Towers— new idea in office-home development". The Straits Times. Singapore. 20 July 1974. p. 15. Retrieved 5 March 2023 – via NewspaperSG.
  11. ↑ Lainez, Nicolas (October 2011). A Foot In and a Foot Out: Sex Migration of Vietnamese Women to Singapore (Report). Alliance Anti Trafic. p. 9 – via ResearchGate.
  12. ↑ Chong CK. "Orchard Towers Hookers Return After Raids". Straits Times, 23 December 2001.
  13. ↑ Tan, Tsai (16 March 1973). "Sime acquires $50 mil property project". The Straits Times. Singapore. p. 13. Retrieved 5 March 2023 – via NewspaperSG.
  14. ↑ "About TOP 5". TOP 5. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  15. ↑ Goh, Robbie B.H. (2005). Contours of Culture: Space and Social Difference in Singapore. Hong Kong University Press. p. 131. ISBN 9789622097315.
  16. ↑ Rosie Milne (6 May 2016). "Sex in Singapore: expats who spend their evenings seeking sleaze". Telegraph. London.
  17. ↑ Mohan, Matthew (18 August 2022). "'It came as a shock': Orchard Towers nightclubs, bars worried for their future after non-renewal of licences". CNA. Singapore. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  18. ↑ Awang, Nabilah; Ali, Nur Hikmah Md (30 January 2023). "Orchard Towers beefs up security in 11th-hour move for clubs and bars to continue operating, but police say no". TODAY. Singapore. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  19. ↑ "Police extend deadline for Orchard Towers' nightclubs, bars to cease operations". CNA. Singapore. 13 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  20. ↑ "All nightlife outlets in Orchard Towers have ceased operations except for one: Police". CNA. Singapore. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  21. ↑ Shah, Aslam; Ng, Darrelle (8 December 2023). "Orchard Towers to undergo two-year makeover in a bid to shed shady past". CNA. Singapore. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  22. 1 2 "Guilty As Charged: Michael McCrea killed a woman and a man he called his brother". The Straits Times. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  23. ↑ "Man dies from injuries after Orchard Towers pub brawl; 8 men and women arrested for murder". The Straits Times. 2 July 2019.
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